Sunday, June 17, 2012

Faith & Jorge, May 19, 2012

Friday, May 18, was my 25th birthday. We spent the morning fighting our way through New York City traffic, trying to get to the Manhattan temple to see Faith and Jorge go through the temple for the first time. To say New York City traffic is bad would be a serious understatement. If there are three lanes on the road, there are sure to be at least four "lanes" of traffic moving, or not moving. Prepare to move no faster than five miles an hour for long stretches, and remember, the yellow ones don't stop. If we hadn't experienced San Francisco traffic, Todd would not have been equipped for this kind of traffic stress. Even so, this was a whole new level of crazy driving.

When we finally got to our destination, we left the kids with Lauren, Matt, Seth, and Jessica in Central park to play, and walked the block from there to the temple. The Manhattan temple is located on the upper floors of a building that also contains a family history center, a distribution center, and a stake center. It looks like your standard seven story New York real estate, only with the trademark angel statue on top, but inside is beautiful and surprisingly quiet. It was lovely and serene after our stressful drive. Coincidentally, my parents met for the first time at a dance in this building when it was just a stake center (no temple) in 1985.

When we came out of the temple it was waaaaay past lunch time, and we were starving. We went in search of some New York pizza. Here is Jared waiting for Daddy to bring out the pizza.

Jessica, Matt, Faith, and Jorge. Faith and Jorge were dressed for Matt to take some bridal shots in Central Park after we ate.

Mmmmmmmmm. Lovely, greasy, gigantic New York pizzas for my birthday in Central Park.

After lunch, some of the group went to take pictures, some went to Chinatown, and we stayed in Central Park.

We found a nice big field to play in with a great skyline.

We shared a popsicle. Parents are physically incapable of feeding babies without making dumb faces. It's a verifiable fact.

Jared and Eloise loved this Central Park playground for a few minutes before we headed back to our hotel.

That night the boys bachelor partied at a dumb action movie, and we ladies had a very brief bachelorette/birthday party, complete with surprise flowers and key lime pie for me from my sisters. I have the best sisters ever. We were tired, though, and didn't play for too long.

On Saturday, May 19, Faith and Jorge were sealed for time and all eternity in the Manhattan LDS temple. Our trusty babysitting crew watched the kids in a nursery in the stake center portion of the temple building. We took a few pictures outside the temple, a few pictures in Central Park, and then we all packed up to drive to Newburgh for the reception.

All of the fun with cousins had worn our kids out. Jared fell asleep with a french fry in his hand and one in his lap, and slept for a good portion of the drive.

Jared really enjoyed the reception. He loves to introduce himself to new people. He goes really close to their faces and asks, "What's your name?" Then he says, "Nice to meet you!" He also enjoyed drinking soda and water from these funny cups.

Eloise, who had developed a red rash on her face just in time for wedding pictures, also had a good time. You can see Jared dancing it up in the background of this picture.

Eloise and Maren had matching dresses, thanks to Aunt Anni. Here is a better picture of chubby little Maren.

Bubbles! Need I say more? Jared's shoes were removed early in the evening, thanks to the influence of his cousin, Aaron.

Jared formed an instant bond with my cousin, Natalie, when she helped him with bubbles.

Faith had a dance with our dad, who we got to see only for the afternoon.

Jared made utensil bouquets in special cups.

Some folks, whose identities we will protect, vandalized Jorge's car. Jorge was not pleased.

Eventually we said our goodbyes to almost everyone and headed to our hotel for the night. We were happy and exhausted. Congratulations Faith and Jorge!

On Sunday we met Cheyenne, Lauren, and Aaron for church. We were a little bit early, so Jared and Aaron played outside while Eloise napped in the car.

These cousins have really missed each other since we parted after church that day. We shared a quick lunch after sacrament meeting. Cheyenne then headed back to Georgia to meet Andrew, who came back from his year's deployment in Afghanistan while they were away, and was anxiously awaiting their return.

We went to our hotel in Newark to enjoy the simple pleasures of our last night in a hotel before a VERY early flight the next morning. Eloise was pretty happy about bananas in bed.

Jared had a heyday with the ice bucket.

We had a great time in New York seeing the sights, enjoying the warm sunshine, and spending time with family, but we were glad to get home and settle slowly back into our routine.